Tuesday, 5 Nov 2024

Teen 'fighting his little heart out' with brain-eating amoeba infection

A 13-year-old boy is fighting for his life after contracting a brain-eating amoeba while swimming in Florida.

Caleb Ziegelbauer has been hospitalized following after getting infected by Naegleria fowlri, a rare and often deadly infection, while swimming at Port Charlotte Beach on July 1.

Several days after the beach trip Caleb began developing concerning symptoms. First, he complained of a headache. Then, fever and eventually he began hallucinating, according to a GoFundMe.

His family rushed him to the hospital where he was diagnosed with meningitis and placed in PICU. Doctors later realized it was Naegleria fowlri causing his illness.

‘A lot of times people don’t get to the hospital quickly enough,’ Caleb’s aunt, Katie Chiet told NBC 2. ‘We’re hoping that we did.’

Doctors have been following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance on treating amoeba since July 10.

‘It’s very lonely and isolating to walk this path because we don’t know where we are on any kind of timeline,’ Chiet said.

‘He’s just the kindest soul but he’s so strong. He’s so strong. Like the fighting on the outside, that’s what we’re doing,’ she added. ‘He is fighting his little heart out on the inside.’

On Sunday, Caleb had a seizure while being visited by his siblings in the hospital, according to an update on GoFundMe.

The seizure prompted an EEG and second MRI. Doctors were also planning on intubating him for a second time so he could take ‘some pressure off breathing’ and focus on ‘healing his brain,’ Chiet said.

The MRIs have shown some damage done to his brain, according to the GoFundMe.

The amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, is a single-celled living organism that causes a rare and almost always fatal infection of the brain. The infection, primary amebic meningoencephalitis, happens when water containing the amoeba enters the body through the nose. The amoeba then travels to the brain and destroys brain tissue.

Of the 154 known cases of primary amebic meningoencephalitis reported in the US since 1962, only four people have survived, according to the CDC.

His aunt said the family hopes Caleb is added to the list of survivors.

Last week, another person believed to have been infected by Naegleria fowlri died from the infection.

That individual, a swimmer from Missouri, was believed to have been exposed to the amoeba while swimming in a freshwater lake in Iowa.

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